The market for french fried potato strips, commonly referred to as french fries, is currently estimated at approximately 6.5-7 billion dollars annually. The bulk of this market is the fast-food restaurant business, wherein parfried and frozen potato strips are commonly purchased in bulk from commercial suppliers and stored at freezer temperatures until shortly before serving. At that point, the parfried and frozen potato strips are prepared for eating by deep fat frying in fat or oil.
McDonald's.TM. french fries, long considered the state-of the art in the fast-food industry, apparently are processed according to the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,993 (Strong). Therein, raw potato strips are blanched by steam or hot water until generally translucent throughout, dehydrated in hot air to cause a weight loss of at least 20 percent, parfried for 30-60 seconds at 375.degree. F. and then frozen to about 0.degree. F. The frozen potato strips are shipped and/or stored until final frying is desired. They are finish fried by immersing in a deep fat or oil bath, usually containing a medium consisting mainly of beef tallow, at a temperature of about 300.degree.-375.degree. F. for 1.5-3.5 minutes.
Another method for preparing french fries for fast food restaurants is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,305 (Wilder), wherein potato strips are dehydrate to reduce their moisture content by 10-30 percent, blanched, parfried for 30-90 seconds at about 300.degree.-400.degree. F. and then frozen. The frozen strips are then fried in oil for 1.5-3 minutes at 325.degree.-375.degree. F.
Many attempts have been made to duplicate for home use the flavor, aroma, color, texture and total eating experience of deep fat fried french fries prepared according to the above or similar methods. These efforts have met with varied results. The processes used in the prior art are pan-frying in oil or oven baking. To date, all of these prior art methods suffer from one or more deficiencies. For example, they produce limp, soggy, greasy, or dehydrated products which do not approximate the total eating experience of fast-food french fried potatoes. Examples of these prior art methods include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,597.227, Reissue No. 27,531 (Murray et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,964 (Kellermeier et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,268 (Van Patten et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,842 (El-Hag et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,340 (El-Hag et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,020 (Gorfien et al.), U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,456,624 and 4,559,232 (both to Glantz et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,838 (Doenges), U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,080 (Pinegar), U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,575 (Saunders et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,272 553 (Bengtsson et al.)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,842 (El-Hag et al.), for instance, discloses a process for producing french fried potatoes which upon oven baking is intended to simulate deep for fried potato strips. Raw potatoes are washed, peeled, cut, blanched and otherwise processed in a conventional manner. The potato strips are then coated with a 4 percent potato starch solution and soaked in an oil bath at a temperature of from 120.degree.-210.degree. F. for 2-6 minutes. If the potato strips are conventional frozen potato strips as received by fast food restaurants, they are parfried and frozen prior to coating in the starch solution and oil soaking. The oil-soaked potato strips are then parfried frozen. They are reconstituted by oven baking, preferably using a special conductive heat transferring apparatus.
Another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,964 (Kellermeier) discloses a process for producing an oven baked french fried product by spraying edible oil or fat onto frozen potato strips, freezing the potato strips, and then baking the potato strips in an oven.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a french fried product which upon reheating to a suitable temperature for consumption closely resembles the flavor, aroma, texture, mouthfeel and total eating experience of a deep-fat fried fast food french fry.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a french fried product which when reheated to a suitable serving temperature by conventional or convection oven, or a conventional food warming device such as a heat lamp, closely resembles the flavor, aroma, texture, mouthfeel and total experience of a deep-fat fried fast food french fry.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a french fried product which may be kept warm for an extended period of time after reheating in a conventional or convection oven without becoming soggy, limp, or suffering structural damage.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a french fried potato product which can be reheated in bulk or in the consumer's home in a very short period of time, and which is virtually indistinguishable from deep-fat fried french fried potatoes which may be purchased in fast-food restaurants.